The Truth Behind Those Blood Red Eyes
by lalulweeb914
Summary: Gin Ichimaru wants Rangiku back, but there's one person standing in the way. Gin will go to any lengths to destroy him, but Aizen wants the shinigami captain for his own vile reasons. GinXRangiku
1. Chapter 1

**Here is my newest story! I know that this first chapter is really short, and I'm sorry but there wasn't much to put in here. Please read this and then tell me if I should continue!**

**_PROLOGUE_**

Heavy breathing resounded through the cave. There was a weak cough and the small shinigami laying in the corner shuddered. A gentle hand reached toward him and rested on his forehead.

"Your fever has gone up again." The owner of the hand said softly. She moved it on to the top of her childhood friend's snow white hair and stroked him gently.

"No… I suppose it isn't sickness that's doing this to you, is it?"

She sighed sadly. Sliding her hands underneath his back, she leaned the petite captain in her arms. She then picked up a nearby canteen of water and brought it to his lips.

"Here, you should drink."

Had this been under any other circumstances, Momo might've laughed. Her holding him, and hand feeding him, Toshiro would be balking. She would love to see the look on his face. But this was different. He was too weak to object.

Water dripped from his chin as Toshiro coughed once again. He opened his heavy eyes and looked into hers.

"…Momo…"

He managed to sputter out her name before he coughed again. This time blood came out.

"Don't try to talk, okay? You should rest."

Toshiro shuddered slightly. Momo realized his whole body was shaking. She interlaced her fingers into his trembling hand.

"It'll be fine, don't worry. How about, just this once, you let me be the one to protect you?"

Toshiro's teal eyes were full of sadness as he comprehended just how powerless he was. All he could do was try to survive, for Momo's sake.

Momo sighed once more and set him down as Toshiro's eyes closed and he fell into the closest thing to sleep he could get.

She surveyed the rest of the cave sadly. Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Rangiku were all sleeping by the makeshift fire in the center of the cave, while the looming form of Komamura blocked the entrance.

_How did it become like this? _She thought desperately, _When did things get this horrible?_

She frowned as she found the answer to her question.

_Gin Ichimaru._

_It's all because of Gin…_

_Is this really how you think you can get Rangiku back? By hurting Toshiro?_

_You're a fool, Gin._

**Well?? You like?? Please tell me!! Cuz if u don't, then I might think nobody cares and I'll stop writing on it... Please review me!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay here's the next chapter. Thank you so much to all those who reviewed me! I appreciate the encouragement!!**

**I'm sorry this chapter came out much funnier than I had originally intended, but this story is going to have issues with humor, so I might as well add a little now while I still can. Enjoy!**

Gin Ichimaru stood staring at the squad three barracks.

"How nostalgic…" He to himself quietly.

Of course Gin had not visited the Soul Society since Aizen's betrayal, so this little trip was quite welcome. He even momentarily considered entering the barracks to greet Izuru, just to see the look on his face.

Gin shook this thought from his head and forced himself to focus on his present mission. Some of the Espada had said that it was too simple for a higher lord to carry out, but Gin wanted this mission. He wanted to be the one to get that brat.

Continuing his stroll around the Soul Society, Ichimaru idly wondered what it would be like if someone could foil his plans.

_Impossible. _He thought, amused. His spiritual pressure was perfectly cloaked, and most of the soul reapers were already asleep anyway. All except for two, the two who had been sitting upon the roofs talking together ever since they had stopped to watch the sunset.

Ichimaru smiled as he walked towards the area where he knew they were chatting. When he was close enough to them, he loosened his cloak on his spiritual pressure just enough for those nearby to feel it.

Jumping up to the top of the roof, he grinned and greeted them.

"Hello there. Long time, no see."

The two shinigami turned, startled. The first thing Gin saw of his target's face was his teal eyes. Seeing those eyes again, Gin's hatred for the boy shot up once more. He had always hated that little captain. Gin's hand twitched as he was tempted to draw his sword. He wanted to slaughter that boy. _Shinso could do it,_ a small voice inside of him said, _it would be so satisfying. Pierce his flesh, rip him apart, destroy him!_

Ichimaru clenched his fist. It would be so satisfying to him, but he was under orders. Aizen had specifically told him not to kill the shinigami. He had said something about a new hollowification technique, but by that time Gin had stopped paying attention, too absorbed in his want to find the small captain.

Gin covered his feelings with a sarcastic smile. There's no way he would ever let that little brat have the satisfaction of knowing how much Gin hated him.

* * *

"Gin… Ichimaru..??" Shock shook through Toshiro Hitsugaya as he recognized the man in front of him. In less than a second, he snapped out of it and jumped up. Pushing the already standing Momo behind him, he reached for his zanpaktou. Surprise jolted him a second time as his hand closed on air.

"Eh??" He said, looking over his shoulder for Hyourinmaru.

"Um, Toshiro, you left your zanpaktou in the squad ten barracks, remember?" Momo explained from behind him.

"Oh, damn it…" He said under his breath.

"What's the matter? Have you encountered some sort of issue?" Gin asked pleasantly.

"Tch. Sort of.." was Captain Hitsugaya's only reply.

"Oh my, is that you were looking for this?" Gin widened his smile as he pulled out a purple-sheathed zanpaktou from his robes.

"Wha..?" Toshiro said, dumbfounded.

"Well, you see, I've been wandering around for quite a while, and I took the pleasure of stopping by your barracks."

"Huhh..?" Captain Hitsugaya was still having trouble believing this.

"While there, I happened to come across this. And of course I didn't think I should just leave it laying there. You wouldn't want it to fall into the _wrong hands, _now would you?"

"Dammit, dammit, dammit.." Toshiro said angrily

"And now," Gin continued, pushing the stolen sword back into his robes, "considering your lack of weapon, I sincerely suggest you surrender. I'd rather not waste my time fighting you."

"Yeah right. I don't know what you're doing here, but if you want a fight, then I'm all for it. I'm not going to surrender anytime soon, Gin." Toshiro grunted and jumped towards Ichimaru, his hands outstretched in front of him

Momo stood in the same place, fear taking hold. _It's Ichimaru…. And we don't have our swords… there's nothing we can do.. I'm already frozen by the strength of his spiritual pressure… we can't win.._

"Hado 33, Blue fire, crash down!" Toshiro yelled. Blasts of blue fire flew from his hands and exploded where Ichimaru had been standing moments before.

Momo's eyes widened. That amount of strength in his kido, Toshiro has definitely improved. _Of course he has, _she thought, _he's Toshiro, a prodigy. Of course he can do kido too._

Gin smirked. "Well then. What do you know? You're using kido, and fiery kido at that. You really are determined, aren't you?"

Toshiro stood and looked at Ichimaru straight in the eye. "Draw your sword, Ichimaru."

"Oh now, there's no need for such a thing. If you're using kido, then I should use it too. It's only fair."

"Don't screw around. If you won't draw your sword..

..then you'll die!"

Toshiro prepared for the next kido, but before anything happened, Gin disappeared.

"Huh?"

"Bakudo 89.."

Toshiro heard the voice coming from right behind him. "No.." he said

"Heavenly chains, entangle!"

Gin's kido shot out from the ground where Toshiro was standing

"No…"

The chains flew up and fell onto his body, pulling him to Toshiro to his knees. He grunted in frustration and tried to break free. The chains tightened, and yanked him to the floor.

"Toshiro!!" Momo screamed.. She attempted to move to him, but Ichimaru's spiritual pressure had immobilized her.

Ignoring Momo, Gin squatted down next to the captured body of Toshiro. "I told you you should've surrendered."

"You bastard.."

Gin just smiled again and placed his hand on top of Toshiro's head. "There's no need to be so rude." After lifting his hand just a little, he brought it back down sharply. Toshiro's eyes widened and he gasped quietly, but then his body fell limb and he passed out.

The glowing chains surrounding the small captain's body faded and then disappeared, leaving behind only a metal circlet around his throat.

"Shiro-chan…" Momo squeaked quietly. Gin turned to her and grinned creepily.

"Well, Momo, it appears I've almost forgotten about you." He stood up and walked to her.

Momo fell to her knees and looked at him in fright. "Ichimaru.."

"Oh my, are you unable to move? Don't worry, it's understandable." He looked at her through slanted eyes. "Now I suggest you go on and tell the others about this little incident."

"Huh?"

"Well you do want to see Captain Aizen again, don't you?"

"Capt-captain Aizen?" Momo stuttered

"Yes, of course you know that I've been controlling him this entire time, right?"

"You-you have?" Momo's eyes widened with happiness and she smiled

Ichimaru stood up "Indeed, I have. You're his leiutenant, you should understand that he would never willingly betray the Soul Society."

He walked to where Toshiro had collapsed and picked him up by the collar around his neck.

"Bye bye now, Momo."

As Gin disappeared, holding Toshiro, Momo was left sitting, staring after them, but not thinking about losing her friend, instead her mind was filled with happiness, remembering her beloved captain.

**Phew.. That chapter took forever to write.. **

**In case you're a little confused, the last chapter was the prologue and the next chapters are what happened before then. Sorry if it's confusing.**

**I hope you liked it! I'll try to update every other day, but, knowing me, I'll probably forget. Feel free to PM me if u get sick of waiting for an update cuz im too lazy to type it up. Plz Review this chapter!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay I'm sorry this chapter is really late. I had other things to do I suppose.**

**Good news- I'm going to the the NY Anime Festival this weekend! Yay!**

**Enjoy this chapter!!**

Footsteps echoed in the darkness. In haze, Toshiro vaguely felt himself being dragged along aside somebody. Amidst the nothingness, the only thing he felt was a burning pain around his neck. His hand brushed against the ground as he was dragged forward.

The very edge of his consciousness was brushed by recognition. The recognition of the man holding him by the metal collar around his neck.

Gin Ichimaru

Aizen sat high upon his chair in the center chamber of Las Noches. He rather like this seat. It was like a throne. He was above all others. Superior. All else was insignificant.

The door across the room opened and Aizen looked down to see his visitor.

"Well that was quick, Gin."

Gin Ichimaru stood in the entrance grinning, as usual. To Aizen's pleasure, Gin's fingers were looped into the gold metal of his lasting bakudo spell.

"It was a pleasure, Aizen-sama." Gin replied with a smirk. He stepped all the way into the room and set the shinigami in his hands down on the floor, in not in such a gentle way. Toshiro's breathing remained hard and uneven.

"I see you used Bakudo 89. I'm not surprised you used such a painful spell on him. I see the feelings you bear to him have not changed."

"I'd rather not speak of such things, if you know what I mean. After all, he is conscious. Barely, but conscious none the less." Gin said, his sarcastic smile fading only a little.

Aizen stood from his seat. "Of course, Gin."

He began to walk down the few steps and stopped in front of the heavily breathing Hitsugaya.

"Now, as to what to do with you." He said thoughtfully.

Aizen turned to face the doorway. "Harribel! Come in here."

The golden-blonde who had just been passing by the center room walked in, a bit surprised. "Yes, Aizen-sama."

"Harribel, do you see this shinigami in front of me?"

"Of course, my lord."

"I have many things planned for him, however, Gin has brought him here a little too early."

'What is it you wish me to do?"

"Please take him and watch him closely until all my preparations are complete."

"Yes, Aizen-sama." And with that, Harribel grabbed the tiny captain and dragged his limp body away, with Gin staring after them.

* * *

Ichigo stopped by another of the identical looking buildings of the Seireitei, panting and out of breath.

"Dammit…" He said quietly. "That goddamned Kenpachi…"

Ichigo had tried to follow orders. Honestly, he tried. But that stupid Kenpachi…

Ichigo Kurosaki had received a message sent to him via another rude visit from Rukia. Whoever sent it didn't go into specifics, it only said his audience was required in the Soul Society.

Had left without argument since this seemed to be pretty important, but no sooner had he set foot in the Seireitei than none other than Zaraki Kenpachi came from almost out of nowhere.

He had been running for nearly two hours before Ichigo was convinced that he lost him. Now free of the senseless captain, He headed towards the squad ten barracks, where had been told to meet.

Once there, Ichigo immediately felt something was off. Whenever he had ventured into these barracks in the past, he always felt chilly, no matter the weather. The strange thing now was how warm and, well, not chilly the air was. He walked into the office.

"Um, hello? Anyone here?" Ichigo said as he walked in.

"Oh, Ichigo, you're here." Rukia turned and faced him.

"What's going on? Why did you guys call me here?"

"We've got.. A problem."

"Huh?" Ichigo looked around the room. Rukia, Renji, and Captain Ukitake were all sitting on the couch in the center of the room. Rangiku and Momo were sitting near the window, both of which were zoning out, lost in their own thoughts.

"What do you mean, a problem?"

"Uh, it's just that… well… Captain Hitsugaya…" Rukia began slowly

"I'll get to the point." Ukitake interrupted . " Captain Hitsugaya… has been kidnapped."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "What?"

"Didn't you hear the first time? Perhaps you'd like me to say this slowly. Captain…Hitsugaya…has….been…..kidnapped." Renji said with his usual rudeness.

"Hey! Don't treat me like I'm some sort of idiot!" Ichigo said punching him in the head.

"But you are an idiot! We're all having a hard time here and you're just being stupid."

"Ahh shut up!!"

"Enough, you too." Rukia said angrily. "This is not the time to be arguing!"

"Rrggg. Whatever." Renji irritably commented.

Rangiku sighed in the corner. "Can we just figure out what we're going to do about this please?"

"Oh right…" Ichigo said slowly

He looked around the room. When his eyes fell upon the desk. For a moment he half expected to see the small white haired captain sitting there, dutifully doing the paperwork, as always. That's when the full impact of the issue really struck him. The desk was empty. Captain Hitsugaya was gone, probably dead.

"This… this is really serious, isn't it?" He asked cautiously.

All he received was a universal nod around the room.

**Okay, I'm finally done with this chapter. I think this is the most boring chapter I have planned. Sorry.**

**Please review me and tell me of what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, hopefully this chapter is a little more interesting than the last one. Even though a few of you didn't think it was as boring as I did. Oh well, this one should be better.**

The Head Captain Yamamotto looked down upon the gathered shinigami in front of him. They had called an emergency meeting to request the rescue of captain of squad ten. IT was so troublesome. They needed to focus on getting stronger, not going on rescue expeditions. But, there was no choice. Aizen wanted something with captain Hitsugaya, that was for certain, and whatever it was, Yamamotto doubted it would benefit them.

"Very well then. You're mission has been accepted."

He opened his eyes a bit and saw their brightened faces. "You may go to rescue Toshiro Hitsugaya."

Momo smiled happily. _We can go. To save Toshiro. And…_ she added in her head, _to save captain Aizen._

Rangiku sighed slowly. She was relieved, so much so that she should be happy. But at the moment, she was to miserable. Rangiku understood that it was Gin who was doing all of this. Gin hated her captain so much. So, this meant that everything that was happening, was all because of her. After she rescued her captain, she would never be able to forgive herself.

* * *

Gin Ichimaru walked through the halls of Las Noches, humming a pleasant tune. Upon reaching the door he was looking for, he entered and scanned the scene in front of him.

"Lord Ichimaru, what are you doing here?" Harribel said curiously.

Impatience ran through his body as Ichimaru only responded with a question of his own. "Where is he?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Where is the prisoner assigned to you? Where is Toshiro Hitsugaya? Tell me."

Harribel looked a little surprised. "Hmmm? What is it that you want with that scum?" She asked cautiously.

"Oh, I just want to have a little chat with him." He answered, walking toward the nearby door. "Is he in here?"

Harribel nodded, still a little mystified. Gin gave her a smile of thanks and walked into the room.

"Hitsugaya-kun?" Gin asked in a playful tune as he entered the prisoner's chamber.

He closed the door and took a look around. "Well it's awfully dark in here." He said sincerely. Feeling around the wall, he finally found the switch. He flipped it and the lights flipped on.

Chains rattled and clanked as the one bound by them lunged towards his visitor. "ICHIMARU!!" Fierce teal eyes glared into Gin's squinted ones.

"Oh my, you sure are feisty today."

The chains restrained Hitsugaya from his attack. He grunted and fell back, the he chains digging in to his neck and wrists. He panted and coughed as the metal cut in and choked him.

"You really shouldn't do that, you'll just end up hurting yourself."

"You…" Toshiro tried to respond, but he just ended up spitting out blood. Gasping, he tried again. "You bastard… if you hurt Momo…"

Gin smiled his usual sinister grin. "Now now, don't worry about that. She's perfectly safe, for now at least."

Toshiro's muscles released the tension he had pent up. Somehow, he believed Gin. He didn't think he would lie about that.

"Hmm… you're much too concerned for her. You really ought to be more worried about yourself."

"What're you talking about?" Toshiro said carefully.

"I'm just sayin'. Aizen's been planning something for you, and I can't say it'll be very pleasant for you."

Gin leaned forward and grinned right into Hitsugaya's face. "But I'll be enjoying every minute of it."

Toshiro grunted and looked away.

"Well, the preparations have been mostly completed, so I'd say you only have a couple days until Aizen moves on with his plan. I hope you enjoy them."

With a last smile, Gin walked out of the cell.

**Well, that's another chapter, come and gone. I'm sorry for the super-shortness, but I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Please review me and thanks to the people who already have!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter six!! Or wait is this seven now? Or maybe it's five?? Oh dear, I do believe I am losing my mind**

**Ok well, while I sit in the corner and try to figure out what is wrong with me today, enjoy the next chapter of my story**

**Oh yeah, and I found another fanfic called Truth Behind the Smile or something Oopsy, my bad. I hate it when stuff like that happens. So I might end up changing the title, be prepared.**

**WTF the music from -Man is REALLLYYY weird… but good… **

Captain Ukitake stood in front of the Garganta, staring the group before him. Renji, Rukia, Rangiku, Ichigo, Komamura, and Hinamori had all been ordered on this mission to save Hitsugaya, though it's not like they needed to be ordered. Captain Ukitake and Captain Unohana had been able to accompany them by request.

In all honesty, Captain Ukitake was surprised to see Unohana asking the Head Captain to join the mission. He knew that she cared for Captain Hitsugaya, but he had always thought that she disliked fighting. That woman would always be a mystery to him.

Urahara Kisuke erected himself in front of the passage he had opened to Hueco Mundo.

"Are ya'll sure you're ready for this? It isn't gonna be easy."

All the shinigami nodded and Ichigo stepped forward, determined. "Yes, Urahara. We're going to do this. And we have to do it now."

Everyone started towards the Garganta, but a shout from behind them interrupted their movement.

"WAIT!"

The entire group turned to look at whoever had shouted. A large crash erupted from the hole at the top of Urahara shop's underground playhouse.

"WAAAHHHHHH!!"

Ichigo's eyes widened a little as an orange haired girl came falling from the hole. In a flash, he disappeared and caught Orihime before she hit the ground.

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Ichigo!" She cried out as her face became red.

"It's your fault for tripping." Uryu came out from the smoke, dressed in full quincy uniform.

"What are you saying, Ishida? Chad pushed me!" She defended as Orihime leapt out of Ichigo's arms and began scolding Uryu.

"I seriously doubt Chad would do something like that."

"Yeah, but, you know-"

"Blaming somebody else isn't like you, Inoue. Or are you just trying to act like you aren't a total klutz?"

Chad appeared, almost out of nowhere, giving Ichigo a fright.

"EH? Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

Orihime turned to him. "Oh, don't be silly, Ichigo. We're all here to help save Toshiro-kun, of course!"

"Oh, well, word sure travels awfully fast, doesn't it?"

Orihime giggled "You didn't think we'd let you go alone, did you?"

"Um," Ichigo said, looking at all the other soul reapers, "I don't really think you could say I'm alone…"

"Oh well, let's just go." Uryu said. He looked at the faces of everyone present. Every shinigami there where the types to always be smiling, but not now. Now they were solemn, distraught with worry.

_This mission had better be a success._ He thought with determination. He had decided to come along only because he cared for Chad and Orihime, or at least that was what he would say if anyone asked. But he knew that if Hitsugaya was already dead, then the effect it would have on everybody would be monstrous.

* * *

The door to the darkened room opened slowly, and Harribel, followed by her fraccion, strode inside and to the figure chained in the corner. She bent down and touched the chains. They immediately broke apart and fell to the floor.

"Get up." She ordered the small boy.

"Lord Aizen has everything ahead of schedule. He is ready for you now."

There was no response, only silence.

One of her fraccion, Apache, advanced to the prisoner. "Didn't you hear?! She told you to get up! Do what my master tells you, you scum shinigami!" Apache landed a hard kick into Hitsugaya's stomach. There was a few moments of silence between the small group until Toshiro consented and slowly got on his feet. Harribel took hold of the chain attached to his neck and led him out of the room.

"So that's it? You're not going to say anything?" Apache yelled to him angrily.

Toshiro allowed himself to be taken out of the room, without a single acknowledgment.

**Okay, good news, that's one more chapter closer to the chapters I REALLY want to write. Bad news, that's one chapter closer to the end. More bad news, I still haven't figured out why I'm so odd today. MORE bad news, the stupid computer just stopped playing my music for some reason. UGH STUPID COMPUTER I NEED MUSIC!!**

**Ahem…. Okay.. Well please ignore my outbursts seeing as they're so common today. Hey, I know! Maybe I'll stop feeling weird if you review me!! Oh yes, getting reviews always makes me feel better! **

…

**Don't you want me to feel better? (Puppy-dog eyes)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, early update just cuz today I really feel like writing. And because the next chapter is going to be, like my total favorite of all time. Yay.**

Aizen was once more in the center chamber, awaiting Harribel. The Hogyoku was on its pillar by his side. He slid his finger across its surface, enjoying the power it emitted.

The far door opened and the third Espada walked in, as emotionless as ever. Following her were her ever-present fraccion and a particularly small shinigami.

"Oh, so you have come so quietly Hitsugaya-kun. I excepted much more of a fuss from you."

As Harribel stopped him in front of Lord Aizen, Toshiro replied quietly, "What point would there be in misbehaving or trying to escape?"

Aizen smiled. "Indeed, there would be none at all." He turned to Harribel. "Thank you Tia, you may go now."

Harribel nodded and left the chamber, quiet as usual. Her fraccion dutifully followed her, Apache throwing one last dirty look at Toshiro.

When the door closed behind them, Aizen and Toshiro were left in total silence. "Well then, it appears there are some intruders in Hueco Mundo. Quite a few of them."

Toshiro froze and his eyes grew wide, shocked. "Already…?" He said slowly.

"Hmm, yes. It seems that they don't want to lose their favorite captain. They even sent three other captains."

Toshiro breathed unevenly. "Three…"

This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all. They weren't supposed to be able to come so soon. Toshiro needed more time. He needed to have enough that he could work out a plan to get everyone out safely. Toshiro wasn't surprised that they came, especially Rangiku, but that the Head Captain allowed three captains to go? No, he shouldn't have done that. Too many people were at risk now.

"I suppose you've been calmly thinking a way out of your situation, haven't you? I'm not surprised. You always have been very smart like that, Hitsugaya-kun."

Toshiro looked at him and grunted in frustration.

"But that doesn't matter. You won't be able to think clearly for a while now."

Toshiro tried to remain calm. "What are you talking about, Aizen?"

All Aizen did in response was turn around slowly, Hogyoku in hand. "I'm talking about this."

He held the spherical object out in front of him and deposited some spiritual pressure into it. Toshiro's eyes widened as the powerful crystal broke into hundreds of tiny shards and floated slowly in the air between the two mortal enemies.

Picking one out of the many, Aizen began to explain. "As you know, I have used the Hogyoku to turn hollows into Arrancar, but that method does not allow me to do the same with soul reapers."

He walked to Hitsugaya as the remaining shards floated towards each other and recreated the Hogyoku.

"On the other hand, the technique I used on the present Vizards gives them a chance to be able to control their power, and still have free will."

As Aizen stepped forward, Toshiro felt a fear of the shard in his hand and backed away, tripping and falling on his back.

"But this method is different. By inserting a piece of the Hogyoku into you, once its power has taken over, your soul will have completely been obliterated, leaving only your body and your power." Aizen bent down in front of Hitsugaya. "And the shard inside of you will take control, and you will follow my every command, giving birth to a new breed of Arrancar, perfected and obedient."

Aizen leaned forward, his hand outstretched, and placed the gem on Toshiro's chest. He tried to break away, but Aizen's spiritual pressure froze him in place. Aizen pushed the shard in and Toshiro's teal eyes widened more than ever. The Hogyoku sunk into his skin and disappeared. Suddenly Toshiro screamed. He screamed and thrashed around in pain and horror.

Aizen stood and looked down apon the shinigami "It would be better to not resist." He suggested.

Sweat dropped down the side of Toshiro's face as he screamed once more. The pain in his chest was unbearable. Everything was fading, disappearing.

Aizen turned his head a little to look at the boy. He had stopped screaming and shaking. The shinigami slowly sat up and remained on his knees in front of Aizen.

Aizen smiled and placed a hand upon the boy's chin. "Very good. Now, welcome, my new Espada." He lifted the boy's chin and looked into his eyes. Aizen's pleasure grew as he saw that they were no longer green. The eyes were complete red, with the whites now black. Aizen smiled once more at his success.

Suddenly there was a gasp and Toshiro pulled away from Aizen.

"Well then, this is unexpected." Aizen said, his smile no longer covering his face. Toshiro's eyes, once more green, glared fiercely into Aizen's brown ones.

"I won't… I won't become your puppet, Aizen."

"So you say, but the new force inside of you is much too strong for you to resist for long."

Toshiro couldn't respond. His body shook and trembled as he remained glaring at Aizen.

Aizen smiled again. "Oh, it does hurt doesn't it? I'm surprised you're still able to remain sane." He walked over to the door. "I'll call for Harribel to have you returned to your cell. I guess we'll just have to wait and see who wins this battle. Right, Hitsugaya-kun?"

**Okay well I hope that made up for the previous chapters being so very uneventful. Next chapter, my favorite, coming soon. Yayness. I can't wait, can you? Well, have a nice day, and please review me so I can have a nice day too.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Heyyy fav chapter whooooooooo.**

**I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!**

Hitsugaya inhaled sharply for what seemed like the thousandth time, laying on the floor of the dark cell. His surroundings continued to seem unreal to him, as everything blurred and spun through the pain.

His fist clenched as he coughed up blood and trembled. Ever since Aizen had put that thing in him, he had become so much weaker that he even managed to get a fever. His skin burned and his head pounded, only adding to his problems.

Suddenly an icy presence filled the room and a large blue head came down and nudged Hitsugaya's shoulder.

_Master._

Toshiro turned over to lie on his side and saw the great ice dragon laying next to him, filling up most of the room.

"Hyo-Hyourinmaru?"

_You are in pain, Master._

Hyourinmaru slid his long body to his master and wrapped himself around the boy. In response, Toshiro's hand came up and he placed it on his zanpaktou. Gripping a strong piece of ice, he slowly pulled himself up and leaned thankfully on Hyourinmaru, feeling its coolness on his overheated skin.

"Why.. Why did you come?" He asked slowly.

_I sensed you needed me._

"I thought Aizen had you sealed away somewhere else."

_I can still take on this form in here, to be with you now, master._

Toshiro remained silent for quite a while, clinging to his sword's side. Hyourinmaru rested its head next to his master's shoulder and the two lied together for a while until Toshiro finally spoke up once again.

"Hyourinmaru, do you-" He paused and coughed again. "Do you feel it too?"

_I am a part of your soul, master, I can feel some of it, but it's nowhere near as severe as your pain._

"Do you.. Do you think… that if I somehow break the contract we have as shinigami and zanpaktou, you could be free of it?"

Hyourinmaru sat up slowly. _I'm not surprised you would ask that._

Toshiro looked at Hyourinmaru.

_It's just who you are, master. As usual, you don't want anyone else to have to suffer, and you push them away to save them from it. And now you're even doing it to a part of your own soul._

Toshiro shook and Hyourinmaru came down to his side once more.

_But I won't go away. You are my master and it's my job to protect you. So I'm going to stay by your side through all of this, master. _

Toshiro's eyes grew heavy and he replied in a mere whisper,

"Thank you, Hyourinmaru."

Through the next hours, Hitsugaya tried to sleep, but the pain in chest was too much, and he couldn't rest. Unable to get comfortable, he kept moving around on Hyourinmaru, but every movement he made hurt him even more. Eventually Toshiro just gave in to lying there, not able to sleep, and through the fuzziness of pain, he began to think. It was true that his thoughts were so interloped in pain that he couldn't make much sense anyway, but he had to figure it out. He just had to figure out why Gin was doing all of this.

* * *

The cell door opened once more and Ichimaru strode inside. He looked around the room, slightly surprised.

"Oh my, this sure is unexpected."

His response was an angry hiss from the depths of the room, as Hyourinmaru rose his head and snarled at Ichimaru, while closing his body around his master.

"Well then, I didn't know you could show yourself this far away from your sword form, but I suppose you just want to protect your master don't you?"

Another hiss resounded through the room.

"Hmm, where is that little brat away? There's so much ice in here, I can't see him. Oh! There you are-"

Ichimaru stretched his arm out to grab Toshiro's shoulder, but Hyourinmaru came out in front of him, pushing Ichimaru aside with a roar.

"Wow, I didn't know that the most powerful ice-based zanpaktou was the overprotective type." A smile was plastered on Ichimaru's face once again. "But you must know, when a shinigami is exhausted and weak, so is his zanpaktou." Ichimaru raised his hand out in front of Hyourinmaru, but was stopped by Toshiro speaking from the corner.

"Gin, stop it. Hyourinmaru, back off."

Gin turned in surprise. Toshiro was very slowly getting to his feet, as weak as he was.

"Gin…"

Hyourinmaru obeyed and backed away as Toshiro began to speak, using all the strength he had to stay upright.

"The reason you're doing this, Gin. It's because of Rangiku, isn't it?"

Gin felt anger filling up inside of him as the small shinigami spoke. His already slanted eyes narrowed and his fist clenched in rage.

"I can tell, I can tell that you still love her. And.."

Toshiro paused and coughed

Gin interrupted. "Shut up.."

"And I can tell that she still loves you, too!"

Ichimaru shook with rage. "Shut up…"

"But doing this- doing this isn't going to help anything! Do you just hate me so much because of how she cares for me as well? It's a lieutenant's job to protect her captain! By doing this, you're not getting her to love you! It's only going to make her hate you!"

"SHUT UP!" Ichimaru let loose all of his rage for the first time for as long as he could remember. He turned around and jumped at the boy. Gin pushed him into the wall and held him there by his chest.

Toshiro's eyes widened in horror as Ichimaru strengthened his grip on him and he screamed, trying to let out the pain.

"You-have-no-idea- WHAT IT'S LIKE!!" Gin yelled, unleashing his rage held inside of him for so long. He absorbed the sound of his enemy's screams, letting it resound in his head, loving it.

Ichimaru's hand tightened and tightened, until Toshiro's screams rose the hair on the back of his neck and black and crimson blood ran down his arms, staining both of their robes.

Then Hyourinmaru couldn't hold back any longer. He charged in and split the two apart. Toshiro fell forward onto Hyourinmaru's back, his teal eyes wide.

Gin backed away a few paces as Hyourinmaru roared. His rage was still present, and Gin wanted to tear both of them apart. But a small reminder rang in the back of his head, telling him of what Aizen had ordered

Ichimaru breathed deeply and walked to the door, but turned around to look at the now blood stained dragon and shocked shinigami. "I will kill you." Gin promised as Toshiro looked up at him. "I don't care what Aizen wants. Just you wait, I will kill you."

**Okay now this is sad, I'm done with this chapter.. and the chapter was sad.. Dang it was fun to write. Am I just crazy, or did you guys like it too? Am I being too mean to poor Hitsugaya-kun? OH don't worry, next chapter will be about the rescue team, so you don't have to see him suffer :P **

**Review me PLZ!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm hoping I'll be able keep my interest in this story. I'm I getting better as I go along for once? That's good. Well then, I loved last chapter's greatness, but this one isn't quite as wonderful.. Oh well whatever the next ones shall be good. **

Rangiku ran forward with all the speed she could muster. She wanted nothing more than to know. To know that he was safe, that he captain was going to be alright. And she wouldn't stop until she found that.

"Uh, Rangiku-san, wait up." Renji said from behind her.

Rangiku stopped and turned around. "What is it?"

The group of shinigami were behind her, coming to a stop as well. "This isn't going to get us anywhere, Matsumoto." Ukitake stated sympathetically.

"What are you talking about?" The sand at her feet rustled as she unwillingly released an unsteady amount of spiritual pressure.

"Calm down, Rangiku." Rukia said, continuing for Ukitake, "Spending all of your energy like this isn't going to help us. If we run into a fight you'll just be exhausted. Please slow down."

Rangiku sighed miserably. She looked around her surroundings sadly. They all had been running through the outer boundaries of Hueco Mundo for quite a while now. The scenery had not changed at all from the bleak desert hills and their destination, Las Noches, was in sight, but far off.

"But," She replied, "The longer it takes for us to get there, the more my captain has to stay."

Renji walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't worry too much about Captain Hitsugaya. He's strong, I'm sure he'll be able to take it."

Rangiku looked up at the tall soul reaper and took a deep breath. "Okay, I suppose I should just relax a bit more."

Hinamori stood at a distance, right next to Captain Unohana. _Rangiku just needs to relax, but why can't I? _She clutched her hand. _Why can't I stop shaking? Am I terrified of seeing Ichimaru once more? Is it anticipation of seeing my captain? Or am I just so scared that Hitsugaya-kun might… already be… dead? _Momo shook her head and felt tears come to her eyes in her confusion.

Them a gentle hand came down on her back. Momo looked up in surprise to see Unohana smiling warmly. "I'm sure your suffering because of this as well. You shouldn't let it get to you either. Everyone will be okay."

Momo sighed and tried to release all of her tension. But it didn't work. With all of the confusion, her mind just continued to tumble around. She shook a little. Unohana gave her a sympathetic look and then moved forward with the rest of the group.

They traveled across the plains of Hueco Mundo for several hours in a tense silence before the ever reached Las Noches. Komamura strode to the front and placed a hand on the wall.

"This is strange." He said aloud.

Ichigo stepped forward as well and felt the wall. "What are you talking about?"

Komamura tightened his hand and the wall crumbled, leaving a large hole. "The defense is so weak. I wouldn't think Aizen would let us in so freely."

Unohana nodded. "Indeed, it is strange."

Renji sighed. "Whatever. Even if this wall is weak, so what? Maybe Aizen just made a slip up. I say we just take advantage of it." He stepped through the hole and entered the palace. "Well? You guys coming?"

With only a little bit of hesitation, the others all stepped through the wall.

As they moved onward once more, running through the long hallways, Komamura commented on the building, "So Aizen has built himself a complete palace, that traitor. He is no king, only a lowly fiend."

Momo cringed at the insult given to her captain. Everyone else continued without a reply to Komamura's observation. It was unbearably awkward. Everyone wanted to speak, but didn't know what to say. The situation had become critical, and no one could think of anything but getting the tenth squad captain out safely.

Suddenly Uryu spoke up. "Hey, do we have any idea where we're going?" He asked.

Everyone stopped and took a look around them. "Um, now that you mention it…" Ichigo replied densely.

Rangiku kept her gaze straight forward "He's in a room not to far from here. Up the next hallway and down two more to the right. Through the door into the large chamber and then through another door on the left leading into a smaller room. That's where he is."

Everyone was shocked. "Wait, Rangiku-san, you can tell that?" Orihime asked.

"Even I can't feel his spiritual pressure from here." Ukitake commented in surprise.

"I'd know my captain's spiritual pressure anywhere." Came Rangiku's only reply. She stepped on and continued with greater speed.

"Rangiku, wait-" Ukitake sighed as he found it was useless to try to stop her. Still, the situation bothered him. As Komamura had stated earlier, the defense was all wrong. The entire time that they had been in Hueco Mundo, they had not seen a single hollow or Arrancar. It was… disturbing.

The time it took for them to pass through the hallways Rangiku had explained seem like none at all. Before anyone knew it, they were standing in front of the door leading to a larger room, probably the quarters of one of the Espada.

Without any hesitation, Rangiku reached out and opened the door. They all stepped inside and observed their surroundings. It was indeed some kind of living room. But sitting on one of the main couches was a Arrancar with golden blonde hair. She turned and looked at them without any emotion.

The entire group reached for their swords, preparing for battle.

"Oh, so you finally came." Harribel noted softly.

"Where is Captain Hitsugaya?" Ukitake asked forcefully.

Harribel stepped in front of the door in the back of the room. "He's right through here, of course. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to get to him."

"You're up against three captains and that's the way you behave?" Komamura stated angrily.

"Make that four captains!" The familiar voice rang out from behind Harribel. The door behind her opened slowly and none other than Toshiro Hitsugaya came out, leaning on the wall.

Everyone was shocked. The petite shinigami was almost completely covered in blood, and he clutched his chest desperately.

"Ca- Captain.." Rangiku breathed taking in the sight of her leader.

Harribel looked at him closely. "How are you still able to stand?" She inquired curiously.

"One of the first… rules of battle… is to never underestimate your opponents." Toshiro gave a small triumphant smile as opened his clenched fist. Inside it, also covered in blood, was a small crystal like shard.

Harribel's eyes widened. "You- dug it out of your own chest..?" She asked in shock

"I'm not the type to sit there doing nothing." Toshiro replied

"No, I suppose you're not, Hitsugaya-kun" Came an answer from the other doorway. Suddenly Aizen stepped into the room, followed by Gin.

The rescue party rapidly turned around to face the new foe. Komamura's eyes raged in anger. "So you finally show your face, Aizen."

Rangiku only could look at the man standing at the high traitor's side. His squinting eyes betrayed a form of emotion he had not felt in a while. An emotion only Rangiku could tell he was feeling.

Ukitake stood braced for an attack. Their situation wasn't very desirable. There were enemies on both sides, and a fight was unavoidable. Ukitake's hand landed on his sword and he made eye contact with Unohana. She nodded.

Both Captains jumped at Aizen simultaneously. However, before their swords hit, Aizen disappeared. They stopped in shock to see him on the entire other side of the room, holding Toshiro in his strong grip.

The blood covered shinigami tried to pull away, but Aizen held a knife to his throat and wrapped his arm around the smaller boy's. "Now, Hitsugaya-kun, undoing someone else's hard work is not a very nice thing to do. As such, the only thing you have accomplished is having your friends have to see you go through this."

Aizen placed his hand on top of Toshiro's and forcefully opened it, taking the shard of the Hogyoku out of it.

Rangiku started towards them, her hand on Hieniko's hilt. "Don't touch him!" She screamed in anger.

"NO, Rangiku!" Toshiro yelled to his lieutenant.

Aizen merely looked up from the object in his hand. "I suggest you don't" He said, pressing the knife harder onto Toshiro's throat, causing a thin line of blood to come out.

Rangiku forced her self to a halt. She glared hatefully at the man holding her captain.

"Now, back to what we were doing." Aizen calmly stated as he brought the hand holding the shard to Toshiro's chest. "You are making yourself go through the exact same process once more, Hitsugaya-kun, only this time you will not be able to extract it from yourself."

The air seemed to hover in eerie silence as Aizen pressed the crystal into Toshiro's body for the second time. Instead of sinking into skin, it went into the blackness of the area where Toshiro's heart was. Bloody and ruined because of what he had done to remove the piece previously, the dent had begun to sink further and further into his body, and it wouldn't stop until he had a perfectly round hole in his chest, befitting an Arrancar.

Toshiro's horror once more became apparent, but instead of a scream, the only sound he could manage to make was a small gasp as his eyes widened.

"What's he doing to him?" Ichigo asked. His hand kept witching in anticipation. He just wanted to attack, and save the shinigami, but the situation would not allow it.

Momo stood in the back of the group staring unbelievingly at the scene before her. Toshiro's body stayed still for a couple moments, leaning against Aizen's chest. Then the tension in the room broke and Aizen let go of him. His form seemed to crumple up as he collapsed to the floor. Momo backed away, looking at her captain's eyes. Cold hatred and superiority. Those were the only things she saw in those eyes of his. And they frightened her to no end.

Her captain took a step forward and then vanished once more, reappearing by Gin's side once more. "Well, I no longer have any reason to stay. Harribel, I'll leave these intruders to you."

"You're not going anywhere!" Rangiku yelled. She shunpoed and attempted to attack him. Her sword, however, was blocked by another as the golden haired Espada leapt in front of her master.

"He doesn't actually think that this one Espada can defeat all of us, does he?" Ukitake said, still a little dazed by what happened.

Komamura was the only one in his senses. He shouted orders to everyone. "Lieutenant Hinamori, Captain Unohana, get Captain Hitsugaya out of here!"

"We'll deal with this one and then catch up with you later." Ichigo continued for him.

The two shinigami both nodded and Unohana picked up Hitsugaya, cradling him in her arms. "It'll be okay." She reassured the unconscious shinigami.

**Hey I'm sorry for the long time it took for me to update. Figuring out what was going to happen in this chapter took FOREVER. I hope you liked it, and I'm sorry if I'm moving the story along too fast. I have a habit of doing that. The thing is, if I try to drag a story out longer, then it gets boring and readers lose interest, and, worse, I lose interest and then stop writing on it all together.**

**I actually like this chapter a lot more than I thought I would, did you?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Whooo, okay so here's the next chapter. Today I'm listening to good music and I'm in a good mood, so hopefully it will be a good chapter as well. In case you haven't noticed, the quality of my chapter is kinda dependent on the quality of the music I'm listening to. For example, I was not listening to good music when I wrote chapter 5 lol.**

**Well, you can ignore my never-ending blabbering, that is if you even bother to read my author's note anymore, and just enjoy this chapter!**

The sounds of footsteps running through the hallways echoed across the rooms. The occasional drip of blood was the only other noise that could be heard. Unohana was getting tired. While she was a captain, and a powerful captain, stamina was not one of her greater parts. After running across Hueco Mundo and Las Noches, exhaustion had begun to catch up with her.

The small shinigami in the healer's arms remained completely unconscious and black blood continued to fall from the very slowly growing black dent in his chest. Unohana glanced down at him, and each time she did so he seemed to look worse and worse. An expression of pain covered his face and his skin had started to overheat once more, his fever growing.

"We're almost out of here." Momo stated as she spotted the whole where Komamura had broken through the wall.

Once the two jumped out, Unohana sat Toshiro down and Momo knelt by his side. She felt his forehead and then asked, "What are we going to do?"

Unohana stared out at the vast desert before them. "We're going to have to put some distance between us and Las Noches, and also find some sheltered place where we can rest Hitsugaya until we can get the Garganta open once more."

Hinamori sighed, "What about the others?"

"They'll be able to find us if I release a little bit of spiritual pressure, that might attract hollows as well, but I think we can handle them."

Unohana turned towards Momo and Toshiro and placed a hand on her sword, "I suppose we can ride on Minuzuka, though it's not the fastest form of travel." The Captain began to draw her zanpaktou, but she paused when she heard a roar behind her.

Both shinigami looked around and saw the giant ice dragon materialized before them. Unohana gazed at it with respect. "You are Hyourinmaru?"

The dragon nodded solemnly, unable to speak with any other than his master.

Unohana smiled with her usual warmth. She took out a uncommonly long zanpaktou from her robes and said, "We were able to retrieve your sword form from the room of that Espada. I had hoped that they didn't do anything damaging to you, and it seems we have been fortunate that they have not."

Hyourinmaru moved to his master's side and rubbed Toshiro's shoulder gently, as if to see if he would wake up.

"I'm afraid that Captain Hitsugaya is in pretty bad shape. Because of that we'll need to get somewhere safe where we can treat him. Do you mind if we could…?"

Hyourinmaru brought his large body to the ground and made a gesture, beckoning them onto his back. Unohana nodded gratefully and walked over. She picked up Hitsugaya and set him on the zanpaktou. Then she and Hinamori also leapt on. Soon Hyourinmaru was in the air and began to fly across Hueco Mundo, searching for shelter.

* * *

Gin Ichimaru dutifully followed his superior through the halls, several questions and desires spinning through his head, yet only one reached his lips.

"Aizen-sama, why did you let escape? You know that being near his friends will only make Hitsugaya's will stronger, and will lessen our chance of our success."

Aizen smiled softly, "That's exactly the point, Gin. I'm merely using this rescue attempt to test the power of the Hogyoku I placed inside Hitsugaya. If that somehow fails, and he can overcome it, than I have no desire for such a weak pet anyway."

Gin nodded in understanding, it was, after all, a very Aizen-like thing to do.

"And now," Aizen continued, striding into the nearby room, "To prevent them from escaping further than I wish."

* * *

The captain of squad eight walked lazy about the twelfth squad research labs, searching for the correct area.

"Oh dear, it seems I've lost why way again. I'm terrible with other squad's barracks." He muttered to himself, scratching his head.

"Captain Kyourakou, would you please come this way?"

"Huh?" Shunsui turned to see a shy shinigami in front of him, the lieutenant of squad twelve.

"Ah, Nemu-san! I'm so confused." He began, laughing. "Are you here to take me to the communications room?"

Nemu simply gave a nod and walked in another direction, heading through several passageways with Kyourakou following her in silence. When the finally reached the designated point, they were greeted with the cackle of the mad Captain of squad twelve, sitting at his desk in glee. The Head Captain was also present, with a unemotional face, as usual.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." Kyourakou said cheerfully.

"No! Your just in time!" the eccentric captain spoke, "Communications into Hueco Mundo are complete! Imaging available in three… two… one!"

The large screen in front of the few high level shinigami flashed and then blurred in static. After a few moments of Captain Kurotsuchi glaring at the screen lie he would destroy it if it didn't behave, which he probably would, the face of a black haired Captain appeared on the screen.

"Ah, Captain Unohana. How is everything?" Kyourakou said, getting serious as he saw the look on her face.

Unohana sighed and then began to report, "Our mission has been successful. We have been able to find Captain Hitsugaya and get him out of Las Noches."

The only one in the twelfth squad room who showed any emotion was Kyourakou, who gave a smile. "That's great! So everyone's okay?"

Unohana breathed slowly. "No. While we have gotten Hitsugaya to a safe spot in Hueco Mundo, he is in critical condition and we are unsure of how he'll do. It seems Aizen has inserted a piece of the Hogyoku into him, and he's becoming an Arrancar."

Kyourakou's widened and the head captain said, "So that's what Aizen wanted with him."

Unohana nodded in the screen and then continued, "The healing I've tried on him has had no effect and.. There's one issue that's the most troublesome." She paused and looked down sadly. "There are times when the hollow inside of him seems to grow in power and attacks him from the inside. This causes him unbearable pain and Captain Hitsugaya is only barely able to hold back the hollow. However, these attacks are getting more frequent and powerful, and I don't know how long he'll be able to last against them."

"Any form of your healing has no effect?" The Head Captain inquired.

"None at all. It is my belief that only Kisuke Urahara has a chance of figuring out a way to save him."

"Very well then." The Head Captain commented, "We'll open a Garganta to bring you back."

"One more thing though," Unohana interrupted. "Right now it's only Hitsugaya, Hinamori and I. All the others stayed behind to fight off an Espada."

"We will open one for them once they return." Replied Yamamotto.

Unohana nodded and Kurotsuchi grinned. "So are you done blabbering?" He asked ecstatically. "Fine I'll open the portal." He began to type furiously. His fingers sped across the piano-like keyboard. Finally he completed the sequence of keys and pressed the biggest one on his set. A light began to form at the side of the room. It glowed and beamed, filling the lab with its shine. And when it faded, there was…

.. Nothing.

"HUH!?" Kurotsuchi yelled in frustration. He let out a furious bellow and began to type once more. Suddenly the screen went static again and Unohana's face and voice started to fade.

"What's going on?" She asked barely audible.

"AHHHH! NO!!" Kurotsuchi screamed "The communication line is being cut! I can't open the portal and our range has been broken! Someone is messing this all up! I can't-"

Then the communicator completely went out and the screen blanked. Across the entire Soul Society, the yells of the twelfth squad captain could be heard, cursing Aizen.

* * *

"I wonder what happened…" Unohana said, staring at the small device in her hand used to reach the Soul Society.

The Captain shook her head and strode to the other side of the cave they had found shelter in. She stopped by Momo and knelt next to Captain Hitsugaya. She had suggested Hyourinmaru stay in his ice dragon form to keep the shinigami cooled off, but Hyourinmaru was also too weak to stay in that form and had to return to the sword.

Toshiro coughed violently and gritted his teeth in frustration. Since about an hour ago, he had regained consciousness, through he wasn't breathing properly and his fever remained.

Unohana sighed miserably. There wasn't anything she could do to help him now. Everything was up to his own strength. She stood up.

Momo looked up at her and asked quietly, "Where are you going?"

Unohana answered with equal volume, "I'm going to try to signal the others."

**Wow my chapters are getting longer. Anyway I gotta go do some studying if I have any hope of passing the PSATs so I'll update again as soon as I am able and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**PLEASE REVIEW ME!! If your reviews could help Toshiro-kun with what he's going through, would you review me with pleasure?? On the other hand, you guys seem to like seeing the poor guy suffer, so I guess that didn't work very well… oh just review me plz**


	10. Chapter 10

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I'm very sorry this chapter took so long to update, Thursday I had to go to New York City to do certain things for certain people at certain places. Friday I had horseback riding right after school, so I couldn't update when I was supposed to. Sorry sorry.. Unfortunately I think this story is going to be pretty short… I can only stretch everything that's left into like 5 or 6 chapters.. Maybe more, maybe less. Idk, we'll see.

**Well enjoy this update **

Momo rested her head on the wall of the cave and sighed deeply. She stared into the campfire Unohana had set up, feeling herself drifting into a sleep. Her heavy eyes began to close slowly. Then Momo felt something move next to her and she snapped up.

The small shinigami looked down at her side. Toshiro was just moving a little, trying to get comfortable. She remained gazing at him, her friend's now pale and sweaty face, the muscles in his neck bulging as he tried to breathe. The once powerful captain had now been reduced to this, barely clinging onto the shred of life he had left.

The depressing thoughts that swirled in Momo's head only brought her deeper discomfort. She hated the situation, and the scene of Aizen holding her closest friend kept flashing through her mind. The look in his eyes, those heartless eyes, she would never forget.

Momo remembered what had happened when she first met Toshiro, so long ago. He was young and secluded, completely alone in the rukongai and starving. Momo had found him unconscious in a street and tried to bring him to her home with her granny. When the boy opened his teal eyes, she looked into them and saw the coldness in them. She saw his icy being, how he always stayed away from others, and they always stayed away from him.

But then Momo saw something different, she looked deeper and saw a totally different kind of emotion, loneliness. Regardless of his attitude, Momo realized that he had a warm heart, and had been deprived of the companionship he longed for more than anything.

Ever since that day, Momo had always told herself that she would never let him feel so lonely ever again. That she would be his friend, even if it meant being his only friend. Then there came that moment. That time when she was so confused, she had no idea what to think. When her captain was faking to be dead and left her that letter.

When she had confronted Toshiro, and held her zanpaktou to his throat, Momo saw his eyes once more. His eyes reflected that loneliness once more, his sorrow had returned and he had never been so betrayed.

Momo hung her head in shame as she reminisced the pointless battle that had been waged between them. Tears began to brim her eyes and she shuddered sorrowfully. She placed her hand on his hair and shakily stroked him.

"I'm so sorry.."

She continued to cry, letting all of her confusion and sadness out, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She noticed Toshiro's eyes open a little, but they were both too exhausted to say anything to each other. The next thing she knew, Momo had fallen asleep by his side, her hand still resting on his silver hair.

* * *

Unohana pulled her cloak over her spiritual pressure as she saw the group in the distance. She breathed in relief and began to walk forward to meet them

"Captain Unohana," Ukitake was the first to catch up to her.

"Is everybody all right?" Unohana asked worriedly.

"Yes. That woman was a powerful Espada, but against all of us, she really didn't stand a chance. All of us put together managed to defeat her without much trouble." Komamura answered.

"How's my captain?" Rangiku inquired, walking up from the back of the group.

Unohana sighed and replied solemnly, "You better come see yourself."

The shinigami followed her into the large cave. Rangiku took in a short breath when she saw her captain in the corner, laying next Momo. She ran to him and bent down by his side.

"Captain…" She stuttered with wide eyes.

Ukitake joined her and placed a hand on his chest gently. The small captain's eyes opened suddenly and he gasped in pain.

Ukitake pulled back and looked down sadly, "I guess you're in really bad shape, aren't you?"

He turned and looked at the sleeping form of Momo, "Is she alright?"

Unohana nodded, "Yes, she's just tired. I don't think she's gotten any sleep since Hitsugaya disappeared."

Ichigo stepped up and looked at Toshiro, "Hey, are you-"

Ichigo stopped short as he felt a kind of push in his heart, his soul. A dark presence that he knew all to well suddenly grew stronger than it had in a long time and pushed at him.

Resisting the hollow in side of him, Ichigo backed away, muttering, "What the hell…"

Just then he noticed that the room was full of noise, Matsumoto was yelling her captain's name desperately, and Ichigo saw through the people that Toshiro was writhing on the floor, screaming in pain.

"What.."

Uryu grabbed Ichigo by the back of his shinigami robe and dragged him across the room. Toshiro stopped yelling and lied there, panting and coughing. Ukitake looked around the room and rested his gaze on Ichigo. "What happened?"

Ichigo stuttered, confused. "I..I don't…"

Uryu interrupted, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose "I believe it was Ichigo's inner hollow that did something, not Ichigo."

Rangiku turned "What do you mean?"

"It must be that the Hogyoku inside of Hitsugaya reacted strongly to the presence of another hollow, and began to push him even harder."

"Wait, so that means-" Ichigo began.

"That means you need to stay away from him, and we need to keep all hollows away from him if we're going to be able to save Hitsugaya." Unohana finished for Ichigo.

"Right." Uryu said.

"Is it even possible?" Komamura asked from the entrance of the cave. "To save him, I mean."

Everyone in the cave remained quiet. It was broken by Rangiku murmuring, "All we can do is hope."

**Alright well, this chapter is done with. I want to make it longer, but my parents are kicking me off the computer so I have to go. I know not much happened in it and it might've been a little boring, but all the next couple chapters will be like that, except the very next chapter I have something planned with Gin that should be interesting. **

**Yayzers I hope you liked it. Poor Ichigo can't go near Toshiro haha loser. **

**I'm sorry if you were looking forward to a fighting scene with Harribel, but against so many people she would've gotten her butt kicked REAL bad, so I didn't bother. Plus I suck at writing fighting scenes.**

**Anyway, please review this and have a nice day.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay well I'm updating early today just cuz it's like four in the morning and I have nothing better to do. I mean I could be sleeping, but, really, who would sleep when there's fan fiction to write?**

Gin focused himself on getting to his quarters. His hand shook and his spiritual pressure wavered unsteadily. He knew all to well how close he was to exploding in his rage, and he didn't want to be near anyone else at the moment.

When the door of his dark room closed and locked behind Ichimaru, he took a deep breath and leaned against it, trying to cool off his temper. His eyes scanned the bleak room, and stopped on the locked cupboard in the far corner. Gin walked to it and undid the lock, opening the cabinet easily.

His hand reached inside and he pulled out a small rectangular shape. Sitting down, he stared at the picture frame, opening his eyes. He placed his hand on the face of the shinigami enframed there, looking at her strawberry colored hair, her bright blue eyes.

Then Gin looked further down, around her waist. There, there was where her lieutenant's badge was, same as ever. Squad ten. The same squad as that stupid little-

Suddenly Gin stood up and threw the picture frame on the floor. Glass shattered everywhere, leaving tiny shards. The picture slid from the frame, but continued to stay face up, and Gin couldn't take his mind off of it. He remembered Rangiku, the look of utter hatred on her face when Aizen tried to harm her Captain.

_Is this how it will always be?? That she'll always care for him more than she ever could me…?_ Gin's thought swirled in turmoil and his heart pounded. _Does Hitsugaya really deserve this? Am I just being cruel…? _

Gin's thoughtful silence was broken when the door to the room opened and someone's fraccion stepped inside. "Lord Ichimaru..?"

Ichimaru's body was tense and he shook in rage once more. "Go away"

"But, I have a message from-"

"I said GO AWAY!!" Shinso came speeding out of its sheath and it ran towards the fraccion, who screamed in horror as the zanpaktou made contact with his skin. The walls splattered with blood and the motionless fraccion lied there, still in the entrance, his face still twisted in shock.

* * *

Unohana stepped outside the cave and let the cool breeze relax her. She reached to her braid and she undid the tie that held it. Her long hair unraveled and blew behind her in the wind. Suddenly she felt another's presence behind her.

Ukitake stepped to the other captain's side and ran his hand through her hair.

"It is a little stuffy in there." He stated quietly. He interlaced her fingers through the long strands of Unohana's hair and ran through them gently.

Unohana sighed as Ukitake came up close behind her and wrapped an arm around her.

"There's nothing I can do to help him. I don't like being helpless."

"I suppose you've always been like that." Ukitake turned and looked back as screaming filled the nearby places once more.

The two stayed in silence until the noise from the inside of the cave died down.

"Nobody deserves this, especially not him." Ukitake's voice was thick with sorrow and regret.

Unohana merely continued to stare off into the distance. "Only the good die young."

"Hey, don't talk like that. He isn't dead yet, we might still be able to save him."

Unohana shook her head. "The Hogyoku inside of him is not meant to coexist with another soul. Undoubtedly it will completely take over Hitsugaya's being, and destroy it, with no hope of return."

"But- but Hitsugaya was able to physically take the shard out of his chest last time. Can't we do that again?"

"No," Unohana continued, "The amount of damage he took from that was enough to almost kill him. If we tried that again, then there's a ninety-nine percent chance he'll die. We can't rely on such little hope."

"So all our efforts have been fruitless to this point."

Unohana and Ukitake remained standing there with each other in the quiet of Hueco Mundo, at loss of anything to say.

* * *

Toshiro's consciousness swirled around. He was still unable to sleep, resting like that would mean completely giving in to the hollow, so he tried everything he could to stay awake. His fist clenched tightly and sweat dripped from his skin once more.

Suddenly he felt a ripping sensation in his chest and the hollow inside of him tried again to get free. Toshiro's back stiffened and arced, while his head snapped back and he screamed at the excruciating sensation. He vaguely felt someone holding him in their arms, his body trembling.

"Toshiro… please stay with us.." It was Momo's small voice, begging for him.

Toshiro felt the pain recede momentarily and stopped yelling. But his rest didn't last long as it returned within seconds, and darkness enveloped him. He couldn't see, hear, or feel anything, only pain. It drowned out everything else around him without fail.

Suddenly there was one sound that broke through. Hitsugaya's heart jolted as he recognized the nostalgic song being sung. The veil seemed to lift as he remembered what was. It was a song that his granny had sung to Momo and him when they were very little. The last time he heard it must've been around thirty years ago, when he was so small and young he didn't want to think about it. But, the only other person who knew that song must be..

Toshiro opened his eyes weakly and looked at the person holding him gently. Momo's tears fell as her mouth formed the words to the sweet lullaby she sang. It was from such a long time ago, he couldn't believe she remembered it.

Then the song ended as Momo looked down and saw that Toshiro's eyes had opened and he had stopped screaming. Suddenly his eyes grew wide again and he clutched her robe as the pain came back to him.

"Please.." He begged Momo, "Don't stop…"

**WELL….. So I hope that last part with Hitsugaya wasn't out of character too much. **

**The little part with UkitakeXUnohana was just me playing around with them cuz theyre such a cute couple. But I'm really not going to go into detail with them and I'll leave it as a mystery cuz I don't wanna think about them right now. **

**Gin threw a hissy-fit! Again! Lol his little fits are fun to write, I enjoy it. **

**Well I liked this chapter LOT MORE THAN THE LAST ONE. Heck, I feel guilty about the last one, it was so inadequate. Oh please come to forgive me. Now I have to go to bed or else I'll be a zombie all day, so please review me.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sigh…. I'm in a gloomy mood today. Kinda eerie… **

**I wonder if that will effect the way I write this next chapter… idk… I'm feeling mysterious.. Yes that's a better word for it…**

**Enjoy this chapter… **

Ichigo stood firm outside the cave, looking out into the far off hills.

"They'll be coming soon, won't they?" He asked tensely.

Uryu nodded from his side. "There's no way they'd let us keep Hitsugaya around much longer. They want him for a reason and they won't let us leave Hueco Mundo. This can only mean that they still want him and won't stay away forever." He glanced behind him. "But I don't think Hitsugaya can last very much more, anyway."

Ichigo sighed, "There's nothing we can do to save him now, only keep him with us.. until the end…"

"And to do that, we'll need to fend off whatever forces Aizen sends to us." Uryu finished for him.

* * *

Gin stepped onwards in silence. He gazed at the extensive desert before him and felt only the emptiness in his heart.

He knew that he had no choice but to follow Aizen. After the entire betrayal scheme, there's no way he'd ever become accepted by the Soul Society again. The path ahead of him was straight forward, and there were no other options. He had to follow it. Follow it, or die.

* * *

Toshiro stared up at the ceiling of the cave miserably. The pain in his chest had receded, and his mind was clear momentarily. He felt Momo laying by his side, asleep once more. He placed a hand on her head and whispered quietly to himself, "I have to survive this… for her sake…"

_What the hell are you talking about?_

Toshiro's eyes widened as he heard the unexpected voice in his head.

_Heh, I guess you didn't think some monster like me would be able to talk, huh?_

Hitsugaya closed his eyes slowly. _No actually, I'm not surprised. Most hollows can talk, just choose not to. _He responded mentally

_Oh well, aren't you the smart one? _The hollow laughed, _Don't act like you're so powerful!_

Toshiro gasped as he felt a ripping in his chest once more, tearing his heart.

_You should be able to feel it, _The hollow continued as Toshiro struggled to breathe, _I've just been getting stronger and stronger. It's not long now. Soon there won't be enough room for both of us, and the stronger wins. Of course you must be able to understand by now. _An evil snicker resounded in Toshiro's head, _You're nowhere near as powerful as I am, and you'll be the one thrown away._

The echoing laugh rang over and over again inside of Toshiro pleased at his planning, _I can't wait to take control of this body. I'll finally be able to tear things apart again. And I think I'll start with that sweet little girl sleeping right next to us._

Suddenly Toshiro stopped shaking. He clenched his fist and tightened his muscles.

_NO!_

_Hmmm?_ The hollow made a strange sound, shocked by his reaction as Toshiro fought back the hollow's power.

_I've sworn… that I would always protect Momo! There's no way I'm going to allow you to take her life. NEVER!_

There was silence between them for a while, until the hollow suddenly burst out in laughter. _HAHAHAHAA! This is great! I couldn't have gotten somebody better to take over! Just you wait, boy. When I take over your body, your soul will only last a couple seconds… But I'll be sure I tear her apart just for you. You'll be destroying her with our own hands, and I hope you'll enjoy the look upon her face!_

The monster's laughter resounded in the darkness, steadily fading into nothingness, until it completely disappeared.

_No.. I can't let you… hurt her… _Toshiro felt his thoughts get confused as the tearing in his chest came once more. He screamed at the excruciating sensation, and shuddered continuously.

_I.. have to… stop you…_

* * *

Rangiku stared ceaselessly at her captain from across the room. She was sitting and leaning against the wall solemnly, watching as he struggled with all his strength. _How am I still just doing nothing? _She thought sadly, _Why am I not comforting him? Or helping him through this? _

She frowned deeply and continued to think to herself, _Does he hate me now? Does he realize that it's all because of me that he's being forced to go through this?_

Rangiku winced as she heard his scream throughout the cave. She trembled at hugged herself tightly. _No… my captain isn't like that. He always finds ways to blame himself, not others. No matter what I do, he'll probably always twist it and find a way to make it his fault, except with paperwork of course. _Rangiku wiped the small smile off of her face. _Why am I thinking like this? Now isn't the time to be acting like-_

Rangiku's chain of thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she saw Ichigo come through the entrance of the cave, followed by a crash as rocks tumbled from behind him

"Get everyone out of the cave!" He yelled desperately. "They're here!"

It took a moment for what he said to register through Rangiku's mind. As soon as everything clicked, she jumped up and ran to her captain's side. Momo was already awake and was trying to lean him on her shoulder, but was being clumsy about it. Rangiku ran to her and took a hold of Toshiro's other side. Together they dragged the small shinigami out of the cave, just in time, as a huge explosion erupted behind them, destroying their shelter.

Renji stood not far away, holding Zabimaru out in front him as he tried to see through the thick dust. "Who's there!? What just happened?!"

The entire group of shinigami stood waiting for the dust to clear gazing at who there foe was.

Through the dust, the shapes of several enemies became clear. Suddenly Gin Ichimaru stepped forward and waved pleasantly. "Hello there!"

His eyes slanted even more with evil intent, "We'll be taking back Toshiro Hitsugaya."

"If you don't mind of course."

**Okay we are reaching the end, slowly but steadily. As you can see I don't really like to write exceedingly long stories, so this isn't going to go on much more. **

**We're finally getting to the really good part. Heh heh I can't wait… Ohhhhh I think I can write Momo's speech next chapter… yessssssss I've been wanting to write that for sooo long…. Yaaayyyy. Do you see how much writing can change my mood?**

**Well I hope you enjoyed it and please review me even if you didn't!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Alrighty! I should be a heck of a lot more excited about writing this chapter, but unfortunately I have been feeling my greatest lately. I wasn't able to update yesterday like I was supposed to because I fell asleep right when I got home from school. Plus I didn't wake up for three hours, then I had to have dinner and do my homework and then I fell asleep again. Wow right? I don't get why I was so tired, I go to bed at a reasonable hour every night, but I guess it's because of the horrid headache I had**

**Okay I'm sorry I ramble like this in all of my author's notes…**

**Well I'm listening to bleach music while writing this chapter, and bleach has good music, so I'm hoping this will be a good chapter. Except I still have a left over headache from yesterday, put that on top of having a pep rally at school today and I really just wanna go to bed right now. But I'll resist and update first lol**

**Enjoy!**

Dust and smoke slowly blew away as the two sides confronted each other. Including Aizen and Ichimaru, there were five enemies to face down. Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, and Aaroniero stood firm by Aizen's side.

Ichigo glared angrily at the ex-shinigami before him and tightened his hand around his zanpaktou handle. That man had done so much to hurt his friends. First Rukia and Renji, and now Toshiro. He felt the hollow inside of him flickering up, feeling Ichigo's hatred and rage.

"This group is too big. Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, and Aaroniero, you take on some of the shinigami." Aizen ordered his servants, "I think Gin and I can handle the rest. Take your fight somewhere else."

A short distance away, Ichigo stood in front of the rest of the group. "Rukia, Chad, Uryu, and Ukitake, do you guys think you can handle those Espada?"

They nodded and Komamura stepped up. "I'll go as well."

Unohana and Orihime moved forward too. "We'll go and take care of anyone that gets hurt, and then come back to help you guys." Orihime suggested quietly.

Ichigo nodded in consent and the selected shinigami turned towards the three Espada present. Nnoitra grinned, "Well, it seems this battle will leave us outnumbered."

Aaroniero looked at the group and gave a dull expression. "It's not like it matters."

"Heh. You bet. This is just the way I like it."

Ulquiorra sighed heavily, "Let's just go."

A second later, the three Arrancar disappeared in their sonido, follow shortly afterwards by the substantially larger group of shinigami.

Aizen smiled coldly, "Well, now that they have been taken care of, I believe we'll be taking back our prisoner."

"You can't honestly think we'll let you." Renji said stubbornly.

"Oh? Do you really think that you could win a battle with us?"

Silence surrounded the remaining fighters as a lonely breeze flew in between them. After a moment's hesitation, Renji yelled in return, "WE'LL NEVER KNOW UNTIL WE TRY!"

With his cry, Renji released his bankai on the spot. The huge baboon swirled around him and then lunged at Aizen with the greatest speed and force possible for him.

Ichigo tried to stop him, he yelled for Renji not to attack, but it was too late. Ichimaru stepped in front of his master and released his shikai. Shinso extended outwards and pierced Renji through the stomach.

"RENJI!!" Ichigo screamed in anger. The redhead was flung across the sand and landed with a thump on the rubble of what was once their shelter.

Ichimaru stepped forward and smiled happily as the blood flew threw the air. When he reached the place when Renji had landed and was now barely drawing breath, he commented, "And now to finish you off."

Shinso began to extend once more, but it was intercepted by a large silver blade. "You won't be hurting him anymore." Ichigo said angrily. He swept Zangetsu out and the force pushed Ichimaru out a great distance. Ichigo brought his hand to his face and pulled out his hollow mask as he rushed after the enemy.

Not far behind him, Rangiku ran after Gin as well. She pulled out her zanpaktou and released it, determined to help Ichigo fight the man she loved.

Aizen stood now alone in the sand and gazed down at the shinigami that was left laying there. "It seems they've forgotten about you, Hitsugaya-kun." He smiled and began to reach down to the small captain, who had managed to sit up, but couldn't defend himself, Hyourinmaru was still by the entrance of the cave. His teal eyes widened as Aizen started to set his hand on Toshiro's shoulder.

Suddenly Aizen's hand stopped and he straightened up. "Well then," He said as he felt cold steel against his neck. "Have you grown up a little, Momo?"

Hinamori stood to Aizen's side, her Tobiume pointed at her ex-captain's neck. The position she held brought back memories of when she held her sword to Toshiro's neck. But this was different. This time, she knew who her enemy really was.

"I won't let you touch him, Aizen."

Aizen's smile widened, "Oh really?"

Momo felt nothing as she spoke to him slowly, "But you'll have to tell me something first."

"And what is that, Momo?"

She remained perfectly stationary, unwavering in her resolution to defend her friend. "Aizen… What do I mean to you?"

A small frown appeared on Aizen's face as he answered her question in full truth. "Have you not understood by now, Momo? You mean nothing to me. You are merely a pawn that I've used to gain my current position. Nothing more."

Momo's bangs hid her eyes from view and her expression was unreadable. "I see."

Tobiume swung up and was brought down with enormous force. "If that's true, Aizen," Momo spoke as Aizen appeared behind her. "Then I'll just have to kill you."

Aizen unsheathed his zanpaktou and swiped it to Momo's neck, but he only found that his blade met the steel of Momo's.

"Because…"

Momo felt herself keeping up with Aizen's every attack, each blow meeting her zanpaktou.

"You're trying to hurt someone I care for, so it doesn't matter if I don't mean anything to you.

"After all…"

Momo unleashed the flame from her sword and Aizen was pushed backwards, were he crashed into a boulder.

As she stood there, her zanpaktou unleashing an amount of spiritual pressure that was far beyond anything she had ever felt before, she continued. "I mean something to Toshiro. I mean a lot to him. That's all that matters.

And as long as he still cares for me…

…I won't let you touch him!"

As Aizen just began to pick himself up again, Momo swung her sword again. A great amount of flame exploded from it and hurled towards the enemy. Flames swirled around the area where the ex-captain stood, and when the smoke cleared, Momo saw only the remnants of the boulder.

"You impress me, Momo"

Momo turned in shock to see Aizen some ways behind her, standing just above her childhood friend. His sword was pointed at him, the tip brushing against Toshiro's neck.

"I thought I had made you admire me so much, you would never try to attack me. But, I guess all good things come to an end. Seeing you struggle with betrayal was fun while it lasted, but now I'll have to end both of your lives."

Speeding towards Toshiro as fast as she could, Momo's eyes widened as Aizen's blade sliced through the air and blood flew.

* * *

Toshiro felt his consciousness being touched by something; something telling him to get back to reality, people were in danger. As feeling began to return to his limbs, he noticed he felt as if something was on top of him, holding him down.

As Toshiro slowly opened his eyes, he felt a thick warm substance running over his body. Suddenly shock tumbled through him as he realized what had happened.

Momo was laying on top of him, her blood spilling all over his body.

"T-To-Toshiro…

…I tried… to protect you…"

Then her heavy eyes closed as all consciousness left her. Toshiro's eyes widened in shock and he yelled her name, he couldn't understand it. Why would she do that? Why? Why? _Why???_

_You're pathetic_

Toshiro felt a unfortunately familiar presence rise in him and he grunted, trying to hold back the power

_I thought you wanted to protect that girl… well you sure are doing a half-ass job of it._

Toshiro knew the strength inside of him was too much. He slowly noticed himself falling out of this world, no matter how he struggled to stay there.

_But don't worry… _The hollow laughed cruelly _…I'll be sure to tear her into tiny little pieces, you won't have to see her bloody body protecting you for much longer._

Toshiro released one last gasp of pain and then felt himself get completely pushed away by the hollow, giving in to the darkness that awaited him

**Okay so there's that chapter… It was fun to write… next chapter won't be as fun to write, but I think it will be just as good. Well, I would ramble more in this author's note, but I'm so exhausted that I'm just going to stop here**

… **please review…**


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's my next chapter..**

**I don't really have anything to rant about, only I have to say the ending of -man (Anime) was horrible. It was good until they got half-way through making the last episode and then they realized they had to end it. You cant even call that a real ending… it was pathetic…**

**Anyway, here's the chapter, enjoy it and then review it plz!**

Ichigo struggled with his zanpaktou as it clashed against Ichimaru's. Sparks flew as the two faced down. When Ichigo looked around, he noticed a small dust rising about them and he released himself from the deadlock. Rangiku's sword's power surrounded Gin and Ichigo watched, wide-eyed.

"Rangiku… please tell me you can do better than that…" An incantation was chanted from within the dusty cloud. Some red kido flew out and the cloud dissipated, leaving Ichimaru standing there, without a scratch.

Ichigo was about to attack once more when suddenly he felt as if every part of his body was being crushed under some great weight.

"What… what is this spiritual pressure…?"

Rangiku looked over at him, her eyes wide. "It's… my captain…"

Ichigo gasped as he did what little he could to feel spiritual pressure. Indeed, it was the icy chill of Toshiro, but something was off. It was twisted and deformed in evil, so much so that it was almost impossible to feel any part of the old Toshiro.

Gripping his sword's handle even harder, Ichigo sped off in the direction he felt it. Rangiku tried to follow him, but she found herself being blocked off by Gin.

"Gin…" She breathed, her heart pounding.

Ichigo stared in shock at what was before him. Toshiro was standing there, covered in Momo's blood, and the motionless body of his childhood friend lied not too far away from him. The thing that brought Ichigo's attention the most was the look on his face. His eyes were red and black, and mouth was twisted into an evil smile. Everything about the thing in front of Ichigo was un-Toshiro like.

"It appears," The voice of the hollow was sinister and overpowering, "That I've finally been set free." A high cackle erupted from deep within the monster's throat and it raised the zanpaktou that was by his side. Ichigo realized that it was Hyourinmaru.

"Now that I'm out… I'll be able to kill you all!" The maddening laughter resounded once more as it leapt at Ichigo. Zangetsu came up in front of him just in time when the powerful strike made contact.

"Oh my… you're pretty good." The monster roared and pressed harder, "Better than that little girl over there, at least. She was already hurt when I started on her, but it seems she's somehow still alive. I'll be sure to finish her off… As soon as I kill you!"

The amount of force in that attack sunk Ichigo's feet into the ground until he was pushed away and he fell against the rubble. "Damn… dammit… Toshiro…"

"Why do you call his name? Don't you understand by now? That shinigami no longer exists, there's only me!" The monster flew at Ichigo, who was just barely getting to his feet. Just before the creature reached him, Ichigo held his arm out in front of him.

"I'm really sorry about this, Toshiro."

His hand went right into the chest of the hollow, were the black hole hand almost completely gone through.

The hollow coughed and blood splattered out of its mouth. It's strange eyes were wide with shock and pain.

"I know this must be hurting you.. But…

Since the hole in your chest hasn't completely broken through, I know you must still be in there somewhere…"

Ichigo moved his hand around in his chest, feeling around searching for the one chance they had.

"I know that Unohana said that this method will only give you a one percent chance of living… but.. We'll just have to rely on that slim hope. After all, Momo needs you."

The wide red eyes quivered with something… emotion. The emotion in the soul that was being pressed back so roughly. Ichigo suddenly smiled as his hand closed on what he was searching for. With one swift movement, he pulled his hand out, blood trailing it.

Toshiro fell to the floor, shocked so much that his teal eyes remained wide in horror, even after his consciousness left him. Ichigo gazed down at him sadly as the shinigami ceased to move. "Toshiro…

…please survive…"

Suddenly Ichigo felt pain burn in his shoulder. He brought his zanpaktou up and turned to see Aizen behind him, his sword stained with Ichigo's blood.

"It seems you've ruined my test." Aizen stared at the dust in Ichigo's hand. "When you took that piece of the Hogyoku out of Hitsugaya, you used your spiritual pressure to destroy it. That's quite an annoyance, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Always a pleasure, Aizen."

**Okay I'm sorry this chapter was kinda short, but, you know, that's life. I thank all those who have reviewed soo much. HOWEVER if you haven't reviewed me… who knows… Toshiro-kun might get offended… do you guys really want Shiro-chan to have to deal with knowing that you guys don't care enough for him..? Come on now, don't break his heart.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay so the bad news for today is that I only know whats gonna happen for the second half of the chapter, as for the first half… well I'm just gonna wing it. **

**I know the summary said GinXRangiku in it, but now that I think about it, I've done more Toshiro than anything else haven't I? Gee… well I guess I just luv him so much I have no choice, as invader zim would say, it controls me like gaint, radioactive rubber pants! I MUST OBEY THE PANTS! Lol I love invader zim..**

**I also luv apple juice… which I am drinking right now.. Yummy…**

**Gingerbread is good too… I just had some gingerbread… wonder if Toshiro would like some gingerbread…**

Gin's zanpaktou collided with Rangiku's again. He looked away from her wet eyes. Ever since both of them had felt her captain's spiritual pressure burst, she had being crying uncontrollably, even while still fighting. Now it was so slight it was almost impossible to feel the tiniest bit of his spiritual pressure.

A frown appeared on Gin's face as Rangiku shivered and sobbed. He jumped back and stood not too far away from her, looking down strangely. Rangiku sank to her knees and dropped her zanpaktou in despair. All of her hope was gone now, as she looked over Gin's shoulder, she saw Ichigo in a losing battle with Aizen, and her captain still staring at sky with wide eyes, though unconscious.

"Will you stop now, Rangiku?" Gin asked quietly, "I'd rather not kill you…" His face was long and the ever-present smile had disappeared. Rangiku, looking up slowly, stared at him longingly, "What are you talking about?"

She sadly rested her head in her hands and looked at the sandy ground, "You've betrayed the soul society, Gin. You didn't hesitate to hurt Renji or my captain, no, you wanted to hurt them. You haven't just betrayed the Seireitei, Gin, you've betrayed me."

"Aizen-sama is my captain, I must follow my captain."

"If the world was that simple we'd all be happy."

"I cannot disobey him." Gin replied as he walked towards Rangiku. He slowly knelt down next to her and placed his hand on her chin, lifting her head to meet his eyes. "No matter what my heart desires."

"Isn't the only thing binding you the ancient order that all subordinates follow their leaders? Can't you break free of that, Gin?" Her eyes had begun to fill with tears again, remembering the past she shared with him. "Can't you? Please…"

"If I did so I'd lose my purpose for living." Rangiku's eyes widened, "You're… purpose…?"

"My life belongs to Aizen-sama. If I took any action against him, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"But-but, Gin, If you have no other reason, can't you- can't you live for me?"

Gin's eyes opened a slight bit in surprise, "Wha.. What?"

"Can't you… live for the life.. That we used to have together?"

Rangiku's words tumbled through the normally calm ex-captain, he couldn't comprehend it completely.

"Do you remember? I used to throw parties in the squad ten barracks…

… there would always be sake.. And Izuru was always the first one drunk…

… My captain refused to do anything so childish, so he just hung out by his desk, with Hinamori begging him to come have fun….

… Hisagi and Iba and that 3rd seat of squad four guy would talk about how manly the party could be…

…Captain Kyouraku always tried to sneak in to get some of the sake.. And we'd have to drag him out to save ourselves from Nanao….

…Yachiru made sure she was the one who could get into the snacks, and ate them all herself…

… Captain Kenpachi went around the room asking for fights… nobody ever agreed…

…and you…

… everybody had always been creeped out by you, just the way you liked it, so no one really stayed around you…

…But do you remember what we'd do… after the parties…?

…We'd go up to the rooftops to watch the moon rise… we would sit there and talk for hours… We didn't stop until my captain started to yell for me to come back and clean up the mess….

Don't you remember that, Gin?"

Gin found himself reminiscing the parties he had attended just like the one she had just described. His demented, slightly evil heart began to feel the kind of warmth he hadn't felt since then.

"There.. There's still a place where you belong, Gin… Where you can be happy…"

* * *

Ichigo received blow after blow from Aizen's sword. As much as Ichigo had improved since the last time that the two faced off, the difference in power was still far too great. He tried his best to stay in the battle, if he let himself fall, there's no way anyone would be able stay alive.

Ichigo felt the exhaustion of the battle catching up to him. His body was getting weak with the want to rest, and he knew that staying on his feet much longer would be impossible. Falling to the ground, Ichigo panted and looked up at Aizen, who had begun to charge at him.

"Dammnnn… this… can't be the end… it can't end like this…"

Suddenly the clash of a zanpaktou brought Ichigo to his senses a bit, unable to get to his feet, he stared ahead of him and saw something he had never expected.

Gin Ichimaru was standing in front of him, zanpaktou guarding against Aizen's.

"Gin… what are you doing…?"

Gin face remained expressionless, the only difference in his usual appearance was his blood red eyes. They were open and they glared deeply at the man in front of him. Without a word, he pushed Aizen back with a grunt.

"Gin…"

Gin stepped back and then charged at Aizen with his zanpaktou in the process of releasing it. His power grew so much, his spiritual pressure surrounded his entire body, overflowing his being.

Ichigo stayed laying on the floor as he gazed at what was before him. His body was completely rejecting any form of movement he attempted and he found himself unable to help.

Swords clanged as the two fought each other. Their speed and agility impressed Ichigo to no end. He couldn't keep track of them. The time elapsed as they battled, minutes, hours, Ichigo had no idea how long it had been when Aizen and Gin finally stepped away from each other, both out of breath.

"So… you're just going to betray me?" Aizen asked scornfully.

"I'm only doing what I truly desire." was Gin's quiet reply.

"Very well then. I see no reason to keep anyone left alive." Aizen said slowly "This world is full of liars, and liars should be killed. I'll be the one to do it."

"You really shouldn't talk, Aizen."

"Let's end this, Gin" Aizen raised his zanpaktou and began to run at his subordinate. As Gin started to do the same, it took him a moment to realize it before the Aizen in front of him disappeared. Eyes open and wide, Gin turned quickly and did the only movement he was able of.

Blood splattered the sandy terrain as Gin stood shakily above the body of the unconscious shinigami. Aizen's eyes slanted, "I see, so you were able to save him."

Gin held Aizen's zanpaktou to his chest, standing above the captain of squad ten, whom he had protected.

"It matters not. Either way, you all die." Aizen moved to pull his sword out and strike again, but a sudden pain in his stomach stopped him. Looking down, Aizen stared at what had pierced him. Shinso remained firm in his torso, blood spilling across its metal surface.

"Don't be so sure… Aizen…"

With a grunt of effort, Gin simultaneously brought his sword up, ripping through Aizen chest while he pulled away from the zanpaktou already in him. He found himself triumphant as he Aizen began to fall, slowly. Blood arced through the air and the traitor's face was twisted in pain.

Gin felt the smile he had on his lips fall when the Aizen in front of him shimmered. The image fluttered, and then disappeared.

"Damn…

..I should've known…

..it was just an illusion…"

"GIN!"

Ichimaru looked up hazily to see Rangiku running to him, her beautiful eyes wide with shock. Somehow, he found his smile as his loss of blood caused him to topple over. Rangiku fell to her knees and caught the man in her arms.

"Gin… it'll be okay.. It'll be.." She caught her breath as she heard him whisper softly. His head turned and he looked over at the small shinigami laying nearby.

"…Hitsugaya-kun….

…will you ever forgive me…?"

His hand stretched out as he tried to reach him. "I've hurt you too…"

Emotion flew through Rangiku's head in so many directions she felt as if she was losing herself. "Gin.."

"… It's okay Rangiku…" His red eyes turned back to her and a sincere, sad smile covered his face.

"Somehow… I think I knew all along…"

Rangiku sobbed as Gin felt his life fall away from him, his lack of blood causing him to feel the death steadily approaching.

"I knew… that someone like me… could never really…

…be…

..loved."

Rangiku's heart skipped a beat as Gin's hand fell to the ground and his breath stopped coming from his mouth. "No… no, Gin… You're wrong… I do love you, I do… I do… I do…"

Rangiku repeated what she said over and over again, until she felt her consciousness abandon her, and she collapsed.

* * *

Ichigo felt dizziness and shock as he lied there. The silence surrounding the area seemed peaceful, and it lulled Ichigo into a near sleep. His eyes had begun to close when he heard shouts.

"Ichigo! Toshiro!"

_That voice…_ Ichigo thought dreamily, _Orihime…?_ Then he too gave in to the sleepy feeling in his head.

**Alright, since it's been about 5 hours since I started writing this chapter, I think I should stop around here. There only one chapter left, though if you're lucky I might be nice and make it two. I guess it depends. **

**Man was this sad or what? I'm feeling so guilty right now… Oh well, there was only one character death I sticked to my plan. Well I guess some of those Espada were just killed too weren't they? Hmm well not including them I guess. Oh and sorry if you were looking forward to the fight between the other captains and the Espada. I'm going to write that because I really don't want to and if I tried to write it it would be horrible anyway… so ya. . Considering Unohana is there and Unohana is awesome, I'd say good guys win that battle. **

**In case your confused, the Aizen that had come to get Toshiro back was an illusion, the entire time he was just back in las noches, stupid coward. I'm just going to let him live because I don't know how powerful he is and I really don't wanna give someone a super-duper power boost to kill him. Deal with it.**

**Okay I'm getting kicked off the computer now so I have to go… plz review me!!!!!!!!!!**

**PLWEASEEE!!!!!! (I'll give you gingerbread!) **


	16. Epilouge

**This is my (sob sob) last chapter… for this story at least… I'm coming up with another one… but I'm not sure about it yet…**

**Yeah okay, so sorry for the late update, but here u go!**

Toshiro slid in and out of consciousness for what seemed like an eternity. All feeling passed him by and then returned to him, only to sweep out from his grasp once more. When he finally found himself opening his eyes, only a bare white ceiling could be seen.

"Ah! Shiro-chan, you're finally awake!"

Blurry vision caused Toshiro's head to hurt as he slowly turned it to see who had spoken.

"What did you just call me, Momo?" His voice was rough and weak, but audible enough.

Momo's laugh rang through the room.

"What's going on here?" Somebody called from outside the room as Toshiro attempted to move around. Ichigo Kurosaki slowly walked in and took a good look inside. "Oh, so you're up. That's good."

"I can't really say up, I can barely move at all." Toshiro groaned as his muscles tensed and refused to obey. Sighing, he relaxed himself and focused on breathing deeply. That's when he noticed, he wasn't feeling any pain at all. The horrible ripping sensation in his chest that he had become unfortunately used to dealing with had disappeared, and the awkward presence of a being that shouldn't be there was gone from his soul. Inside himself, he could feel only his presence and Hyourinmaru, who was contently resting.

"Um, what exactly happened?"

* * *

A knocking came from the nearby door about an hour later. Rangiku strode in quietly, and stared at the faces around the room. Ichigo and Momo were sitting by the bed and Toshiro had been propped upright with pillows. Aside from a few lines under his eyes, he looked fairly well, considering everything that happened.

"Er, may I talk with my captain?" She asked awkwardly, without making eye contact.

"Huh? Rangiku-san?" Momo seemed surprised "Of course you can talk.."

She stopped when Ichigo nudged her and left the room. Taking the hint, Momo cast a concerned look behind her and she followed suit.

"Uhh, captain… I-"

"It's pretty ironic, isn't it?" He interrupted, gazing out the window.

"What?"

Sighing, he continued to keep staring at the outside sunlight, "We all thought that Gin was the bad guy, but in the end, he ended up saving us all."

"Uh…"

Toshiro finally turned and looked at her softly, "We all owe our lives to him."

Rangiku let his words sink in and felt a small smile on her face. _That's my captain for you…_

Suddenly the door opened again and Momo and Ichigo were back again, looking between the two strangely. "Um, we don't really want to interrupt, but, uh-"

"But we ran into Unohana in the hallway and she told us to give you some food." Ichigo said nervously, "And considering the look on her face, I think we better do it, that woman is scary… seriously, I don't know who's worse, her or Kenpachi."

"It's okay, I'm done." Rangiku replied kindly. "Thanks, captain."

Toshiro nodded as she swept out of the room and then faced the other two. "You have food?" He asked greedily.

Momo grinned ear to ear "Yep!"

She ran over to the bed and pulled a bowl of rice out of a little bag and held it up. Taking the chopsticks in her hand, she scooped up some rice and brought to Toshiro's mouth. "Open wide, Shiro-chan!"

"I'll feed myself!" Toshiro yelled as he grabbed the bowl from her hands. Then his face fell, his arms remembered their weakness and rice spilled all over the floor.

"Hey! Toshiro!" She half-glared, half-laughed at her childhood friend. While picking up the fallen bowl, she commented, "I'll go get some more, be good until I get back." Then she left the room with a little huff.

The two remaining shinigami sat together in silence until Ichigo finally said what had been bugging him. "Hey, Toshiro, I, um, just thought I should say sorry."

Toshiro tiredly turned to him, "Sorry for what?"

"Well," came his response, "What I did to take that hollow out of you. You were already in a lot of pain and doing that probably was even worse for you. I'm sorry."

"Are you kidding me, Kurosaki?"

"Huh?"

Toshiro shook his head. "Really, I thought you were smarter than that. It doesn't matter how much it might've hurt, what you did saved my life. If you hadn't acted on that instinct, I would still be out there, hollowfied, and working for Aizen. Honestly, I'm a lot better off the way I am now. Even if I can barely move and being stuck in bed is a pain."

"Oh, well then, if that's how you feel then fine." Ichigo got up and grabbed Toshiro's wrist. Then he ran out of the room, dragging the struggling boy behind him.

"HEY! Ichigo! Stop, hey let me go!"

"Stop yelling or they'll find us!" Ichigo said back as he continued his way through the fourth squad barracks. Toshiro's feet skidded across the floor, trying to regain his balance. As weak as his legs were, he wasn't able to do much to pull away from the substitute shinigami, so instead he just yelled at him.

"Why are you doing this?! Put me back!"

Ichigo laughed. "Come on! You've been staring out the window for the past hour! Plus some fresh air will help you!"

"This is so stupid." In spite of the childish way Ichigo was acting, Toshiro couldn't help but be happy about it. After all the time he had spent cooped up in Hueco Mundo, being back to the Soul Society just made Toshiro want to be outside, and Ichigo was helping him get that.

Toshiro didn't complain again as the Substitute pulled him out into the open air. He continued to run until they came to a grassy hill, where they both collapsed.

"I can't believe I let you do that." Toshiro commented weakly as he leaned back against the green blades. Ichigo was right, the soft breeze did make his head clear a bit, and he could move around more too.

"Yeah, but the look on your face was worth it." Came the reply, Ichigo grinned and lied back as well. "Gee, the weather is really nice today, too. It's great summer day."

"Huh? Wait, it's summer already?"

"Oh, yeah. You were in Hueco Mundo for about a month, and you've been asleep about a week, so it's early summer by now."

"Wha-! I've been asleep for a whole week?" Toshiro sat up a little

Ichigo nodded. "When Unohana and the rest of the group found us after dealing with those Espada, you were pretty much dead. I don't know how they did it, but Orihime and Unohana gave their best efforts to save you, and it worked. Though, we've all been really worried. It was the worst on your friend Momo."

"Momo.." Toshiro sighed as he remembered her, laying over him, protecting him from Aizen.

"Shiro-chan! Ichigo!"

"Speak of the devil…" Ichigo said under his breath when Momo came running over, carrying a small basket in her arms.

"Where did you guys go? I've been looking everywhere for you!" She complained as she reached them.

"We didn't feel like following the rules." Ichigo said, grinning.

"You mean you didn't feel like following the rules and you dragged me along with you." Toshiro corrected.

"Oh well, I brought you something." She smirked as she opened her basket.

Toshiro's eyes widened a little when he saw what was inside. "Watermelons?"

She set the basket down a sat in between the two. "Yeah I thought we could all share them, since I know you love them so much Toshi-"

When Momo looked down again, her basket was empty, with the exception of some green watermelon edges.

"Wha—"

She glanced at her friend who was innocently looking the other way.

"Why you-! Shiro-chan! We were supposed to share those!"

"You could've said that before you showed me what was inside the basket."

"But-! And how do you eat those so fast, anyway?! It's crazy."

Toshiro stared at her. "Watermelon is good." He responded quietly.

Momo looked at him as he turned back and gazed at the Seireitei. His teal eyes glistened in the sunlight and he almost seemed like he was smiling.

The next thing Toshiro knew, Momo had wrapped her arms around him in a big hug from behind. "Huh? Hey, Momo- Don't-"

"Thanks, Shiro-chan." She simply said, softly.

"Thanks for staying alive, I don't know what I'd do without you"

Toshiro stared at the floor solemnly. "That goes both ways, Momo."

"And…

It's still Captain Hitsugaya."

Momo smiled. "Right."

**Yes, yes I suck at endings. I just noticed that I didn't say anything about Aizen. Crap. Well since I don't feel like finding a way to put that in there, I'm just going to tell u, Aizen's still out there will the rest of the Hogyoku and he'll probably return one day to destroy the soul society, yada yada yada.. I'm not going to write a sequel just to deal with that bastard.**

**Well, I tried to end this on a happy note, aside from Gin's death. I refrained from humor for the entire story, so I had to make up for it with the last chapter. I'm satisfied, Idk if u r. Plz review me and tell me!**

**Thanks you to all who have reviewed me, I appreciate it. I guess this is farewell.. I feel good, this is the first fanfic I've done from start to finish. Yay I'm proud, only now I have to find another fanfic idea to write. Well, we'll see about tht and good bye! **

**I REALLY** **suck at endings... sry...**


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